London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [10]
SIGHTSEEING ON THE CHEAP
Join real Londoners on the top deck of a double-decker bus. Routes 9 and 15 also operate shortened Heritage routes on the traditional Routemaster buses. You can use your Oyster card or buy tickets from machines at the bus stops for the following routes:
Bus 11: King’s Road, Sloane Square, Victoria Station, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, the Strand, Fleet Street, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Bus 12: Bayswater, Marble Arch, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards, Whitehall, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Bridge.
Bus 19: Sloane Square, Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Piccadilly Circus, Shaftsbury Avenue, Oxford Street, Bloomsbury, Islington.
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CROWNING GLORIES
This regal runaround packs more into a day than most cities can offer in a week. Hit Westminster Abbey early to avoid the crowds, then cut through St. James’s Park to catch the Changing the Guard at 11:30 am at Buckingham Palace. (If the palace doors are open, enjoy a peek at royal life.)
Take a quick detour to the Tudor delights of St. James’s Palace, old haunt of Charles I, before a promenade down the Mall past the Regency glory of Carlton House Terrace and through Admiralty Arch to Trafalgar Square.
TIP Get an early start and a hearty breakfast, as this selection of treasures will likely keep you on your feet all day.
After lunch, choose from the canvases of the National Gallery, the Who’s Who of the National Portrait Gallery, or a brass rubbing in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields if the children’s interest is flagging.
This should leave time for a stately stroll down Whitehall—past Downing Street, Horse Guards Parade, and Banqueting House—to the Houses of Parliament, where you have the option of prebooking a tour or trying to get in to see a debate.
TIP Her Majesty’s mounted guardsmen make a great photo op—you may even see Prince Harry, a member of the Regiment of the Blues and Royals, responsible for his grandmother’s personal protection.
If you have any time or energy left, stroll through Green and Hyde parks to Kensington Palace, home to Queen Victoria in her childhood, and (for aspiring little princesses everywhere) the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection.
MUSEUM MAGIC
London has one of the finest collections of museums in the world, and certainly no other comparable city offers so much for free.
Many resemble state-of-the-art, hands-on playgrounds; others take a more classical approach.
One of the latter is the British Museum in Bloomsbury, an Aladdin’s cave of artifacts from across the world that is ideal for either a half- or full-day browse.
If you want to bolt on additional visits, pop into the nearby museum of architect Sir John Soane, or transport yourself to the London Transport Museum.
TIP For a structured visit or if you’re short of time, hop onto one of the British Museum’s nine freebie 40-minute “eyeOpener” tours, join one of the three 90-minute “Highlights” tours, or grab an audio tour.
Alternatively, South Kensington’s “Museum Mile” on Cromwell Road houses the triple whammy of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum, any one of which would make for a substantial half-day’s diversion.
RETAIL THERAPY
Shopping ’til you drop in the West End is almost a national sport. New Bond Street—an awesome display of top names and sartorial finery—is the main stomping ground of the well-heeled and fastidiously dressed.
Nearby Oxford Street is more chaotic and department store–led, but finds itself at the very heart of London’s commercial hubbub.